Exams / Sonography
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ARRT Certification

Sonography Exam Prep

Master the ARRT Sonography registry with focused, physics-to-procedure prep.

Coming soon

About the Sonography exam

The ARRT Sonography credential certifies that a technologist has the knowledge and skills to perform diagnostic medical sonography safely and competently. It is administered by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT). Note that the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS) is a separate, related certifying board that also credentials sonographers; many employers accept either, and the two organizations maintain distinct exams and eligibility routes.

Certification confirms competency across patient care, ultrasound physics and image production, and hands-on scanning procedures spanning the abdomen, obstetrics and gynecology, and superficial structures. The exam is a computer-based, multiple-choice test built from ARRT's published content specifications, blending safety and ethics with instrumentation knowledge and protocol execution.

ARRT offers Sonography through both a primary pathway (for candidates completing an approved educational program as their first credential) and a post-primary pathway (for technologists who already hold an ARRT credential and add Sonography through documented clinical experience). Eligibility requirements and current exam details differ between the two routes, so candidates should confirm their pathway with ARRT.

What's on the exam

Mapped to the ARRT content outline.

Patient Care

Ethics, legal practice, communication, patient interaction, and safety workflows before and during exams.

Physical Principles of Ultrasound

Sound properties, wave interaction with tissue, propagation, attenuation, and the physics underlying image formation.

Ultrasound Instrumentation and Image Production

Transducers, system controls, optimization, Doppler principles, artifacts, and image-quality decision-making.

Abdomen and Superficial Structures

Sonographic evaluation of abdominal organs, small parts, and superficial anatomy including thyroid, breast, and scrotum.

Obstetrics

First-, second-, and third-trimester scanning, fetal anatomy and biometry, and maternal assessment.

Gynecology

Sonographic evaluation of the female pelvis, uterus, ovaries, and adnexal structures.

Procedures and Protocols

Scanning protocols, measurements, and documentation across abdominal, OB/GYN, and superficial-structure studies.

Who it's for

Diagnostic medical sonography students completing an accredited program, as well as credentialed radiologic technologists seeking to add sonography through the ARRT post-primary pathway.

Eligibility

Eligibility differs by pathway (primary vs. post-primary) and includes education, clinical competency, and ethics requirements. Requirements change over time; always confirm current details at arrt.org.

Sonography prep is coming to RegistryReady

Create a free profile now — you'll be ready to jump in the moment Sonography prep launches, and you can start with radiography or CIIP today.

Official exam details and eligibility: arrt.org